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Who Stole The American Dream? Can We Get It Back? (2012)

by Hedrick Smith(Favorite Author)

4.16 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1400069661 (ISBN13: 9781400069668)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Random House Publishing Group

review 1: There are a lot of reasons to like this book. It's full of really good information about how the US got into it's current unhappy situation where wealth pools at the top and so many people work and work yet never get anywhere. He puts most of the blame on corporations and their shift toward greater political involvement beginning in 1971. The part that resonates most with me is the change in mindset. CEOs used to practice "stakeholder capitalism" where they balanced the interests of management, employees and investors. But now they practice "predatory capitalism" where you shed jobs even when your company is making a profit, because more money is always better. He also talks about when CEOs would have been ashamed to have to have mass layoffs or take their company through ... morebankruptcy, but now these are just tools in the toolbox.I took one start off for the book being way too long. Besides a political/news junkie like myself who would really read 426 pages of this stuff? I had to take another star off for the disappointing solutions chapters in the back. I liked the chapter of recommended policy changes. But his recommendations for changing the political scene, largely surrounding the idea of getting rid of political parties, just don't seem practical at all.
review 2: I've been reading on the subject of economic inequality for awhile now, starting with Henry George, proceeding through JK Galbraith, to here. I first discovered Hedrick Smith through his 90's book "The Power Game" which years ago opened my eyes to the extent and influence of money and organization in modern politics. Here he does a great job chronicling the economic and political forces, players and events which bring us to what today is being described as "rule of, by and for the 1%." Most of what Smith discusses I've encountered elsewhere, but he pulls it all together in one place. You could save yourself several other books by reading this one.His prescription for reform, described as his "Marshall Plan", isn't magic. It relies on members of the public rediscovering their role as a "citizen" not merely a "consumer", willing to make choices and take action, if not for the greater good, than at least with an understanding of enlightened self-interest. However, this depends at least on people recognizing what IS in their self-interest, especially in seeking payoffs that are not merely local and immediate. In a culture that favors immediate gratification, this may be a challenge. I want to believe the kind of grass-roots activism Smith extols is still possible ... less

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